End Up With You
by roktavor
Summary: "And…where is this kitten now…?" Josuke has a sinking suspicion that he knows the answer to that already. The front of Okuyasu's jacket is oddly active for a piece of clothing.


**A/N:** For Josuyasu week day 7: anything you want!

Took this chance to write out an idea I've had for a while (but I love so many gold-hearted delinquent types that I couldn't decide which fandom to apply it to, lol).

* * *

 **End Up With You**

Okuyasu is late, which is strange – he's typically pretty punctual, despite what appearances would have you believe. Every morning before their walk to school, he gets to Josuke's house early, sometimes even showing up before Tomoko has the coffee made.

They hadn't come together today, though, and Josuke is wondering if that's the reason for Okuyasu's tardiness.

It couldn't be helped, if it is. Josuke has a lot to catch up on, now that he's finally back in school. Before and after class his day is crammed with make-up work; it sucks royally, for a variety of reasons, but mostly for the deprived-of-extra-time-spent-with-Okuyasu reason.

So here Josuke is, on a rainy Tuesday morning, sitting in his seat and frowning at the empty one in front of him. Okuyasu should be here by now…class is about to start and still there's no sign of him.

Two minutes until the final bell rings, and movement outside the classroom door catches Josuke's eye. He's just starting to formulate a plan to visit Okuyasu's house during lunch when he spots a familiar waving hand from the hall.

So Josuke stands up, mutters something about being right back to no one in particular, and then follows that beckoning hand.

Once out of the classroom, he's met with the sight of a sopping wet Okuyasu, dripping all over the floor, hair a limp mess. For some reason he's cradling the front of his jacket, too, Josuke notices.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Well, obviously Okuyasu was rained on, but there's something about the set of his mouth and the shine of his eyes that tells Josuke there's more to this story than a forgotten umbrella.

"I –" Okuyasu pauses to sneeze into his elbow, wiping his nose on a dripping wet sleeve, "– I was on my way to school, when I found this kitten stuck in a storm drain, an' I couldn't leave her there, so I fished her out with The Hand."

Josuke wants to ask, but he's too afraid to. If he sees a gaping hole in the ground on the way home from school, that question will be answered. For now, he opts for a different one.

"And…where is this kitten now…?" He has a sinking suspicion that he knows the answer to that already. The front of Okuyasu's jacket is oddly active for a piece of clothing.

Glancing over Josuke's shoulder, and then behind himself, Okuyasu seems satisfied that the hallway is empty. He grabs Josuke's arm and pulls him to huddle against the wall, out of immediate view of any classrooms.

"She's, uh…" Pressing his finger to his lips as an insistence of silence, Okuyasu unbuttons his uniform top carefully. He keeps one hand beneath the wiggling lump on his front to support it, and by the time three buttons are undone, a tiny kitten head pokes out. It's dark grey and just as wet as Okuyasu is.

Josuke isn't surprised, but he sure as hell is shocked all the same. "Dude – you can't have her here," he whispers – but he can't resist reaching out to stroke over the kitten's head with a finger.

"What was I s'posed to do?" Okuyasu asks, frowning. " _Leave_ her there?!"

Josuke, still petting the kitten, pauses just long enough to raise an eyebrow at Okuyasu. "You couldn't've taken her home…?"

"I was only a block away from school when I found her! I couldn't run her all the way home, she might catch a cold." For all the good it'll do – what with he himself being soaked – Okuyasu cuddles the kitten closer, wrapping her tighter in his jacket.

"Oku… _you_ might catch a cold at this rate," Josuke points out.

As if on cue, Okuyasu sneezes again. The kitten looks up at him, startled by the noise, and he coos at her, scratching her chin. "I'll be okay," he insists, sniffling.

"If you say so." Josuke makes a mental note to ask his mother if she can whip up some soup later.

"Oh!" Face lighting up, Okuyasu lifts a pointer finger. "I almost forgot! I also brought her here because I wanted ya to fix her with Crazy D. Like, just in case she's hurt, or something, and I can't tell." As he speaks, he fishes the kitten out of his jacket, cupping her in his hands and holding her out to Josuke.

There's a crooked, hopeful smile on Okuyasu's face, and how's Josuke supposed to refuse _that_. "Alright," he says, "and how about I dry you both off while I'm at it?" At this point, cold prevention is likely impossible, but Josuke figures it can't hurt.

There's another sneeze from Okuyasu, buried in his shoulder as he holds the kitten steady. "Please," he says with a shiver.

Josuke crosses the hall to crack a window – sure he could evaporate the water _here_ , but that would raise the _humidity_ , which would ruin his _hair_ – and then beckons Okuyasu over, summoning Crazy Diamond. He gets the kitten first, having his stand stroke a hand down her back. As she dries, her fur fluffs out, making her even cuter.

Cat taken care of, Crazy Diamond focuses on Okuyasu, restoring his clothes to their previous dry state and sending the excess water out the window in a stream that evaporates as it goes, probably going back up into the clouds or something. Josuke isn't sure, exactly. He has Crazy Diamond fix Okuyasu's hair, while he's at it.

As he disperses his stand, Josuke steps closer so he can pet the now-very-fluffy kitten, and she rubs her face against his fingers. She really is an absolute fuzzball now that she's dry; Josuke tries and fails to stifle a sneeze.

Okuyasu, of course, doesn't miss it. "Did you catch a cold, too?"

(Ha! So Okuyasu admits that he has one.) "Nah, I'm just allergic to cats," Josuke explains, continuing to pet the kitten all the while.

"…Maybe you shouldn't be touching her, bro," Okuyasu says, small frown in place. He pulls the cat closer, tucking her against his chest, and she paws at his jacket.

Josuke makes a negative noise, sniffling. "It's fine, she's already doin' her damage from there." And besides, he may not be as bad as Okuyasu, but he can be a sucker for cute things, too.

"If you're sure…."

Oh, Josuke's sure. The image of a tiny, grey kitten playing with Okuyasu's dollar sign emblem as he cups her close, mumbling "be careful" and "hey, easy", is far too cute to stay away from for long.

As Josuke steps in to help untangle one of her claws from a loose thread on Okuyasu's uniform, their weird, almost domestic spell is broken by the final bell ringing.

"Shit," Josuke says, making a move for the classroom door, "I gotta get in there – I can't miss school again."

"I better come, too," Okuyasu mutters. He follows, the kitten still clutched to his chest.

Pausing after barely two steps, Josuke forces Okuyasu to stop with him. "What about her?" he asks, pointing at the elephant in the room.

Okuyasu blinks down at the kitten as she sniffs Josuke's finger. "No problem," he decides. He unbuttons his uniform again, this time to put the kitten back inside, and then buttons her back up snugly. The noticeable lump of cat becomes less obvious when Okuyasu crosses his arms loosely over it. Thankfully. "You don't think Ms. Tanaka will notice, do you?"

"Uh –" _it's more than likely_ "probably not, but –"

Their discussion is cut short when the teacher herself pokes her head out of the classroom doorway, glaring around the doorjamb at them. "Do you two plan on joining us anytime soon?" she asks, toe tapping.

"Of course, Ms. Tanaka!" Josuke flashes her a winning smile as they slip past her to claim their seats. He sees Okuyasu do the same and tries not to laugh, because he's still got his arms weirdly huddled around himself in an attempt to _not_ look like he's smuggling a cat in.

From there, the morning proceeds in an… _almost_ normal manner. Surprising as that is.

Okay, so admittedly, Josuke isn't paying much attention to the actual class. He's too distracted by Okuyasu in front of him, whose head is permanently bent as he stares mostly at his own torso.

 _Subtle, Oku_ , Josuke wants to say. He actually starts writing it on the corner of his notebook paper, intending to pass it as a note, but this very important work is interrupted by a sneeze. It's strong enough to jerk his hand and reduce his handwriting to scribbles, so he starts over.

This time the interruption comes from a piece of paper landing on his own desk, tipped there over Okuyasu's shoulder.

'Bless you,' it says, which starts Josuke snickering…

…Which in turn leads to another sneeze. Damn that cat is lethal. As he's sniffling, another 'bless you' note falls onto his desk, and he decides to stockpile them for the inevitable.

It only takes about five more minutes before Okuyasu is the one sneezing, twice in rapid succession. Josuke leans forward in his seat to return both notes to his boyfriend, dropping them back over his shoulder. They come back crumpled a moment later, joined by a third that says 'Very funny, Josuke'.

The joke really is on Okuyasu, though, because he sneezes again immediately after.

Josuke can't help but giggle again, which earns him Okuyasu kicking at the leg of his desk in retaliation. So of course Josuke kicks Okuyasu's chair, jostling him forward – which, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea.

An angry yowl comes from the seat in front of him, and shit the cat must've gotten pinned against the desk a little – he hopes she isn't actually hurt, having Crazy Diamond reach out a healing hand just in case.

The room goes quiet at the sound, though, and Ms. Tanaka stops her lecture (on English? English is first, right?) to stare down the center of the room, squinting suspiciously at Okuyasu and Josuke in particular. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

On cue, Okuyasu sneezes violently, putting an odd noise into it that Josuke supposes is meant to resemble the yowl. "No ma'am, sorry." He does it again, this time obviously fake. "Just got a bit of a cold."

Josuke has to bury his head in his arms, struggling to stifle his laughter.

If they don't get caught it'll be a _miracle_.

"And you, Mr. Higashikata?"

Ah, damn.

"…Allergies are actin' up," Josuke answers after a moment, fully aware that his hesitation is suspicious. In his defense, she caught him off guard with that one.

Their teacher still seems skeptical, but nods and goes back to her lesson regardless. Crisis averted for now.

Calling back Crazy Diamond, Josuke heaves a sigh that tapers off into a sneeze. For which Okuyasu kicks his desk _again_. This time, having learned his lesson, when Josuke kicks back he goes for Okuyasu's foot.

After this bout, things calm back down, the two of them reduced to sniffling with limited sneezes.

Around five minutes later, the novelty of watching Okuyasu shift to adjust to the kitten's squirming wears off. …Well, not entirely, given how Okuyasu has bulked up lately and his uniform kinda hugs him in some nice places…

But Josuke _also_ knows that his mom won't be pleased if he doesn't get serious about catching back up, so he forces himself to stare at the passage they're supposed to be translating. And he almost succeeds, too – at least until he notes the absence of shifting in front of him, chances a glance upwards, and nearly falls off of his seat.

The kitten, apparently, is tired of hiding in Okuyasu's shirt and has decided to crawl up his shoulder. Which is extremely detrimental to the whole 'don't get caught with an entire kitten in the middle of class' thing they're trying to pull here.

To his credit, Okuyasu is just too focused on his schoolwork to notice. Or at least that's what Josuke assumes, from back here he doesn't have the best view – but from the angle of Okuysu's arm it looks like he's chewing on his pencil, which is a sign that he's concentrating.

Apparently not on the _cat_ , who is starting to actually climb _over_ Okuyasu's shoulder, paws reaching down his back.

Josuke pokes Okuyasu, the only way he can think of to subtly alert him to what he should, by all accounts, already be feeling – but all this accomplishes is getting Okuyasu to turn around too fast, causing the kitten to slip off of his shoulder.

It requires standing up out of his seat a little, but Josuke manages to catch her before she reaches the desk (or the _floor_ ).

And _of course_ all the movement catches the eye of their teacher, so as soon as Josuke has the kitten he's forced to pull her back, cupping her in his lap and pretending to have his eyes glued to his desk like a good student. Fortunately, Okuyasu also takes the hint and turns back around to face forward, scribbling away at something way too fast for it to be the actual classwork.

…Hopefully Ms. Tanaka is fooled regardless.

The kitten in Josuke's lap is squirming, and he finds himself chewing on his bottom lip as he stares at the same sentence until the words blur. He can _feel_ Ms. Tanaka's eyes on him, threatening to burn holes into his hair.

Okuyasu lets out a thunderous sneeze at the same time as the kitten mews, and Josuke fights the urge to bang his head off of the table.

Someone has to have noticed by now. If they haven't, coincidences like that won't be enough to keep their secret for long – why hadn't Okuyasu just gone home? Why hadn't both of them bailed when they had the chance?

 _Oh, right_ , Josuke thinks as he tucks the kitten into his own jacket, _because we're good kids. Studious, well behaved, and all._

But Ms. Tanaka isn't staring anymore, so there's that.

Josuke sneezes again, and feels the kitten jump against him at the sudden noise. Her proximity is definitely a bad idea, he realizes, sneezing into his elbow even as he pets her through his jacket, because now his eyes are all itchy and everything. Nose running. He's sure he's a sight.

But he's doing this for Okuyasu. There's no way he can discreetly pass the kitten back without the teacher noticing, and if she's discovered, Ms. Tanaka is likely to just put her back outside…which would make Okuyasu upset…and then he'd probably skip class….

"Alright, time's up," Ms. Tanaka says, standing up from her desk. "Are there any volunteers to –"

Once more with his absolutely impeccable timing, Okuyasu unleashes three sneezes in a row.

Ms. Tanaka opens her mouth to speak, and Josuke follows with a fourth.

"Do you two need to go and see the nurse?" Ms. Tanaka asks, then, without much preamble, clearly tired of being interrupted. Seems like third time is the charm after all.

"No, we're fi –"

"Yes I think we do," Josuke says, standing up as he speaks over Okuyasu. He makes sure he has hold of the kitten, grabs their bags, then Okuyasu's arm, and hauls them all out the door of the class before Ms. Tanaka can take her offer back. "Thank you!" he calls over his shoulder, hooking the door on his heel and sliding it closed.

He doesn't stop walking until they reach the stairs at the end of the hall, where he promptly collapses, taking a seat on the topmost step. Okuyasu sits with him, and for a very romantic moment, they just sit and sniffle together.

"That was close," Okuyasu says at last.

"You're telling me," Josuke sighs, reaching into his jacket and plucking out the kitten, handing her over. She's gotten hair all over his custom tailored uniform – she's lucky she's so cute and that Okuyasu loves her, he thinks with a sneeze.

Okuyasu accepts her back gratefully, his face lighting up as he presses his nose to that small, triangular one. He does more cooing, too. Surprise, surprise, it's punctuated by a sneeze or two of his own. "So what're we gonna do?" he asks.

Shrugging one shoulder, Josuke deliberates for half a second. They can't actually go to the nurse – even if she'd probably send Okuyasu home for real. There's the cat to deal with, and his mom will kill him when she finds out, but…. "Go home, I guess?"

"It's still raining…" Okuyasu points out with a frown. He kisses the kitten's nose, and then tucks her back into his jacket.

…Seriously, it's so cute that Josuke can feel his heart turning to goo in his chest. He _can't_ look away. "Well, I got my umbrella," he says, "why don't we just share?"

The implications of that don't entirely hit Josuke until he sees Okuyasu start blushing – and then he finds himself mirroring that.

Okuyasu stares at him long enough that Josuke considers taking the offer back, but he knows better. He swallows those words down and waits it out.

"Uh – y-yeah, sure, bro!" Okuyasu stammers, lips quivering into a genuine smile. "Sounds good!"

All of Josuke's breath leaves him in a rush. "Good…."

Their next obstacle they don't encounter until they're behind the school, standing beneath an awning and both trying to fit under Josuke's umbrella. In all honesty, it shouldn't be this hard. Josuke is the taller of the two, so he'll hold onto it, Okuyasu doesn't have allergies, so he'll hold onto the cat…they've got that part down.

The problem is that they're both too broad to walk comfortably side-by-side. Too much shoulder bumping, and too many half-wet jackets are the main issues here. It's not as romantic as Josuke had been hoping for.

…Or, at least, it's not _at first_.

"H-here," Okuyasu says. Adjusting his grip on the kitten so he can support her with one hand frees up the other, and then he can _wrap an arm around Josuke's waist_.

Like this, they both fit under the umbrella – with barely enough space to walk, sure, but they fit nonetheless. And it is…decidedly romantic.

Josuke can feel himself blushing. He's probably firetruck red by now, which totally isn't cool. It doesn't get any better, what with Okuyasu pulling him in until they're flush against each other as they walk.

"Is. Is this okay?" Okuyasu asks, and Josuke shoots a glance down long enough to see that he is also blushing.

"Yeah." The warmth of Okuyasu's hand at his hip is more than okay, actually, but that isn't the kind of thing you say out loud in the middle of the street. So Josuke picks up a different topic, before he can accidentally do that. "Are you gonna keep her?"

"I think so…" Okuyasu says, arm tightening a little around Josuke's waist. "Stray Cat needs a friend, plus she's real cute." He bends his head and lifts the kitten so he can place another kiss on her nose.

Inspired, Josuke leans over to press a kiss to Okuyasu's nose. "So are you." Even as he pats himself on the back for that hella smooth move, Josuke is internally screaming as heat floods his face.

– And then Okuyasu's nose scrunches up, and he sneezes on the cat.

"You definitely have a cold, dude."

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 **A/N:** Anyway Josuke's allergies are only here for Rule Of Funny and therefore not an actual serious headcanon of mine. This fic also reeks of smth I would've written 10yrs ago, and Idk how to feel about that. Hopefully at least my writing has improved since then, even if my ideas haven't. :'D

Song title is End Up With You by Carrie Underwood.

Thanks for reading!


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